Jurgen Klopp has warned Pep Guardiola he won’t have it all his own way when he takes over at Manchester City next summer.

The Liverpool boss is relishing the prospect of renewing his rivalry with the Spaniard, who has agreed a three-year contract to succeed Manuel Pellegrini at the Etihad.

Guardiola has enjoyed trophy-laden spells with both Barcelona and Bayern Munich but Klopp says he will be hard pressed to replicate that kind of dominance in England.

Asked if he thought Guardiola would be a success at City, Klopp said: “We plan to avoid that!

“Manchester City is a club with not too bad possibilities on the financial side, shall we say, and Pep Guardiola is a really smart person. He won’t have chosen Man City because of his friendship with a few people there.

“They won’t have the worst team in the world next year but I love football because that doesn’t mean everything. As we have shown once or twice, you can beat these teams. That’s for sure. Pep was a world class player but he won’t be on the pitch.

“We will see what happens but I cannot be interested in this now like everyone else is. I will see him for the first time maybe in July or August, that's a long time from now. We will have time enough to speak.

Pep Guardiola, Bayern Munich manager

“He will enjoy the league because it is a great league and a real competition and he is a real competitor. That is what he wants.

“But I don’t think that it will be the same situation as he had in Spain, with Barcelona on the top level, or in Germany with Bayern on the top level. Of course Man City has good possibilities but we will try to beat them.”

Klopp will watch with interest what happens to City’s form now that it’s been confirmed that Pellegrini will be relieved of his duties come May.

The Reds boss says it’s a very different scenario to his own at Borussia Dortmund last term. Klopp was in control of his own destiny when he revealed last April that he would step down at the end of the campaign after asking to be released from his contract.

What happens for the rest of the season at Man City is up to the team

Klopp says a manager on his way out can be a “lame duck” but they can also sign off with a flourish like Jupp Heynckes did at Bayern three years ago after it was confirmed that Guardiola would be replacing him that summer. Heynckes went on to win an unprecedented treble of the Bundesliga, Champions League and the German Cup.

“I don’t think you can compare this situation with mine,” he said.

“I was really close with my team and the whole club. Okay, I made the decision but everybody knew about it.

“I told the players and there was no party afterwards. One player said: ‘Okay, let’s enjoy the last few months we have together’. That’s what we did.

Manuel Pellegrini, manager of Manchester City, looks on during the Barclays Premier League match with Liverpool at Etihad Stadium on November 21, 2015 (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

“I don’t know how it is inside other clubs, I can’t tell you this, but in Germany we use the same phrase as you do here – a lame duck.

“A lot of people thought it could be like this but it wasn’t for us, thankfully. We didn’t have the biggest success because we didn’t win the cup final but we were completely in the race, completely focused and nothing changed. At the start I had thought about really saying goodbye only on my last day, not before.

“What happens is up to the team. Don’t forget, the 2013 treble-winning team of Bayern was unbelievably strong and they had all their players fit until the end.

“There were other factors too, like them losing a few titles in the years before. Of course, Jupp Heynckes and his team worked really good together but they didn’t work well together because he had said he was leaving at the end of the season.”

Klopp and Guardiola don’t share a friendship but there is clearly a mutual respect.

Guardiola’s first game in charge of Bayern ended in defeat to Klopp’s Dortmund in the 2013 German Super Cup. But the Spaniard has since gone on to win back to back Bundesliga titles and they are on course to make it a hat-trick. Guardiola also got the better of Klopp in the 2014 German Cup final.

“I could get his number if I want, but we’ve really only met a few times in finals and the Bundesliga,” Klopp added.

“He’s a really nice guy. He’s really smart and it’s good to spend time together. He’s a really good person, but that’s all.

“When he’s here we will play against City and have a few words - in German because his gets better and better. But he speaks good English so for him it will probably be much easier than when I first came here.

"Everything will be okay. He is one of the best managers in the world.”